


Pigeon

by ghostwriterly



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Daddy Jack, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Jack and Bitty have a baby, M/M, Post-Canon, The Softest Jack, the first day of kindergarten is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 15:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15367749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostwriterly/pseuds/ghostwriterly
Summary: Jack draws the short straw on the first day of kindergarten, and thus begins the longest walk of his life.





	Pigeon

It was a silly nickname.

 _No sillier than Bitty!_ Bits would say, and Jack would have to agree. And much like his father’s, its origins were organic.

_Listen to him coo, sweet precious boy. He sounds like a little pigeon._

_Bits. Pigeons don’t coo._

_They do in Georgia._

_You had pigeons in Madison?_

_Well no, but if we did, they would sound just like this sweet, amazing boy._

And so it stuck.

_X_

It was hard to believe, when Jack had time to stop and take a breath, that their baby was going to school.

Five years. How did the time pass so quickly? It seemed like yesterday he and Bitty had been in the hospital, nervous and scared, afraid that the tiny pastel-wrapped bundle might break, that they might break, that they weren’t now and never would be good enough to deserve the miracle they had been entrusted with. 

It had always been easier for Bits, who took to parenting like a duck to water. He effortlessly navigated diapers and naptimes and vitamins and vaccinations, while Jack felt sluggish and self-conscious, sitting with his head between his knees while Cooper screamed bloody murder in the doctor’s office. (Bitty had taken them both out for ice cream after that.)

Cooper’s chubby hand was dwarfed in Jack’s much larger one, but his big brown eyes were clear and sparkling, and a shock of bright blonde hair flopped over his forehead, so reminiscent of his father’s that Jack’s heart clenched hard in his chest. Cooper was the spitting image of Bitty, right down to his little button nose, and there was something very visceral about the love Jack had for their son. To see Bitty reflected in Cooper’s eyes, a piece of Bitty, separate and amazing and beautiful and sweet and funny—it was a testament to how incredible life could be. To watch them together, heads so close the shades of blonde were indistinguishable, the scope of how much he loved them breathtakingly bright.

As they walked, he was struck dumb with fear—how would school change him, his baby? How quickly would he morph into something new, maybe even something unrecognizable? Jack had heard all the horror stories about adolescence, remembered his troubled own, and what if Cooper wasn’t immune? What if he had somehow inherited Bitty’s looks but Jack’s sullen, driven, obstinate teenage hormones? What then? What—

“Daddy?”

Jack shook himself. “Yeah, Pidge?”

“Why do frogs hop?”

Jack hid his grin, barely refraining from picking Cooper up for a snuggle. There would be snuggles later, and milk and fresh-baked cookies after school, and two books before bed, because one was never enough.

“Because they’re happy,” Jack said, squeezing his fingers.

“Me too!" Cooper crowed, and then hopped two times for emphasis.

Jack smiled and straightened his tiny backpack. _Me too._

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this was to be part of an Ill Equipped timestamp, but it works without having read that story too. I've been in a bit of a writing nebulous. One day my muse will return from war. In the meantime, have some sweet Check Please! Soft Daddy Jack.


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